The imaging apparatus includes a printer, a fax machine, and a multifunction machine. Another example of the imaging apparatus is an inkjet printer of a liquid discharging type that uses a recording head discharging ink droplets.
The inkjet printer of the liquid discharging type can make an image (recording, printing, or the like) by discharging the ink droplets or other liquids onto a paper, a viewgraph for an overhead projector (OHP), or the like, which are generally called a recording medium or a recording paper, for example. The imaging apparatuses are loosely grouped as a serial type imaging apparatus and a line type imaging apparatus. The serial type imaging apparatus is configured to make an image while moving its recording head in a main scanning direction. The line type imaging apparatus is configured to make an image without moving its recording head.
Hereinafter, “imaging apparatus of a liquid discharging type” is configured to discharge the droplets to a medium such as papers, textile threads, textile, cloths, leathers, metals, plastics, glasses, lumber, and ceramics. Further, “imaging” means not only making an image such as a character, a letter and a figure but also making dots of droplets on a medium. Further, “ink” is used as a generic designation of recording liquids, fixing liquids, liquids and so on, and includes deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples, resist materials, pattern materials, and resins, for example.
Hereinafter, the imaging apparatus of this kind is referred to as an “inkjet recording apparatus”. Conventionally, the inkjet recording apparatus has a carriage equipped with a recording head and a sub tank, a buffer tank or a head tank for supplying ink to the recording head, and a main ink tank or a main ink cartridge that is attachable to or detachable from an inkjet recording apparatus thereby supplying ink from the main ink tank of the main ink cartridge to the sub tank, the buffer tank or the head tank.
Conventionally, the main ink tank or the ink cartridge is configured by an ink bag and a holding member having an ink discharge port and an ink supply port connected to the ink bag by, for example, welding, and a splittable cartridge accommodating the holding member and the bag, as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2. Conventionally, an ink cartridge of an integrated ink head type has an ink discharging portion provided with an ink discharging nozzle and a shutter member for covering or exposing the ink discharging nozzle depending on a surrounding temperature by sliding the shutter member in a direction perpendicular to a direction of discharging the ink, as disclosed in Patent Document 3.
Conventionally, there are the following methods of supplying ink. First, a hollow needle of an inkjet recording apparatus pierces a supply port of an ink cartridge and suctions the ink, as disclosed in Patent Document 1. Second, a deformable ink bag is surrounded by an outer air bag, and a gas is supplied between an outer side of the ink bag and an inner side of the air bag thereby compressing the ink bag by the gas, as disclosed in Patent Documents 4 and 5.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 3919734    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-276538    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H6-328718    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-306505    [Patent Document 5] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-220710
In the above-mentioned inkjet recording apparatus which is configured to have the ink cartridge attached to or detached from the inkjet recording apparatus, the ink cartridge is exchanged by a user after the ink cartridge is spent. When the cartridge is exchanged by taking a hollow needle out of the spent ink cartridge, an ink may adhere to an ink supply port. Then it is necessary to treat the spent ink cartridge so as not to soil a hand or other components of the inkjet recording apparatus with the adhered ink.
Meanwhile, when a new ink cartridge is attached to the inkjet recording apparatus, extraneous material or sebum from a hand may adhere to an ink supply port while opening a package of the new cartridge. In this case, after the new ink cartridge is attached to the inkjet recording apparatus, the extraneous material or the sebum from the hand may intrude into an ink supply path of the inkjet recording apparatus, thereby causing erroneous discharge of droplets.
As such, the conventional ink cartridge has problems so that an exchange of a spent ink cartridge is bothersome and erroneous discharge of the droplets may occur.
Further, if a discharging action is carried out without attaching an ink cartridge to an inkjet recording apparatus, air may intrude into an ink supply path thereby causing erroneous discharge. For this reason, it is ordinarily determined whether an ink cartridge is attached, and a recording operation is stopped when it is determined that the ink cartridge is not attached.